Best Upscaling HD DVD Player?


Recommended Posts

The OPPO does not upscale over component.

Due to the Requirements for whoever governs the dvd manufactures

NO DVD player can be sold that DOES upscale over component.

But people always seem to find the hidden menus or disable it ;)

But the quality on upscaling over component is horrible, since the scaling chips do there best work on the digital domain and the dvd players weren't designed for the best picture to be over component.

  • 1 month later...

The OPPO does not upscale over component.

Due to the Requirements for whoever governs the dvd manufactures

NO DVD player can be sold that DOES upscale over component.

But people always seem to find the hidden menus or disable it ;)

But the quality on upscaling over component is horrible, since the scaling chips do there best work on the digital domain and the dvd players weren't designed for the best picture to be over component.

Hi everyone from Mexico City, i just found this forum and its a lot of help reading about this topics.

I just want to tell that you're wrong. DVD players CAN upscale over component. I came in trying to find dvd models that do that cuz the only ones ive found are a little bit expensive, check them out here:

www.neodigits.com

Their dvd players upscale in every possible connection. As a matter of fact, they can upconvert to 1080p only through component, HDMI>DVI just 1080i.

The only diference between component and DVI is that component is analog and dvi digital.

There are also cable topsets that deliver high definition signals through component, the Xbox 360 delivers high definition through component, so why not dvd's? Actually i've read that some people prefers the image quality through component rather than DVI, some others dont. Experts say its all about the TV you're using.

To end this msg, ive heard that TRUE high definition will only come with blue ray discs or HD-DVD. Both formats are still fighting to see which one will be the good one! LOL But im not expecting this to happen in the next 3-5 years...i mean to be commercial and afordable. You can try looking for "blue ray" (actually blu ray) at ebay and see the prices!

Hi everyone from Mexico City, i just found this forum and its a lot of help reading about this topics.

I just want to tell that you're wrong. DVD players CAN upscale over component. I came in trying to find dvd models that do that cuz the only ones ive found are a little bit expensive, check them out here:

www.neodigits.com

Their dvd players upscale in every possible connection. As a matter of fact, they can upconvert to 1080p only through component, HDMI>DVI just 1080i.

The only diference between component and DVI is that component is analog and dvi digital.

There are also cable topsets that deliver high definition signals through component, the Xbox 360 delivers high definition through component, so why not dvd's? Actually i've read that some people prefers the image quality through component rather than DVI, some others dont. Experts say its all about the TV you're using.

To end this msg, ive heard that TRUE high definition will only come with blue ray discs or HD-DVD. Both formats are still fighting to see which one will be the good one! LOL But im not expecting this to happen in the next 3-5 years...i mean to be commercial and afordable. You can try looking for "blue ray" (actually blu ray) at ebay and see the prices!

This dvd player is HORRIBLE

Read reviews on it, its Brutal, Doesn't even touch the OPPO.

Basically its a POS.

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/sho...Player%20(HDMI)

51/100

WOW

OPPO 98/100

Hmmm

Edited by Dazog

I was talkign about this with some fellow best buy associates from around the country today and one guy mentioned how, in the manual, it states it only does upconversion over component video for DVD-R. While this sounds a little bogus, it may be something to keep in mind.

I heard that too.

I guess my vote would go to oppo, since they seem to frequently update their firmware to fix bugs and add features.

This dvd player is HORRIBLE

Read reviews on it, its Brutal, Doesn't even touch the OPPO.

Basically its a POS.

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/sho...Player%20(HDMI)

51/100

WOW

OPPO 98/100

Hmmm

Hi, glad to hear that. I didnt know tis performance. The reason im here is, as i said, im looking for an upscaling dvd but i need component output since i dont have hdmi.

I found that these 2 models support high definition upscaling through component:

Samsung HD841

Zenith DVB318

Any comments about them? Or any other model that does it component?

Hi, glad to hear that. I didnt know tis performance. The reason im here is, as i said, im looking for an upscaling dvd but i need component output since i dont have hdmi.

I found that these 2 models support high definition upscaling through component:

Samsung HD841

Zenith DVB318

Any comments about them? Or any other model that does it component?

Does your TV have DVI?

Does your TV have DVI?

Hi, no i dont have dvi or hdmi, thats why im looking for component. I bought my tv about 3 years ago and i havent seen high definition yet! :(

Ive found the Samsung HD950. With a simple hack it can upscale through component, any comments about this player?

Does your TV have DVI?

Right now i have a Samsung CT32Z7P CRT television and a Marantz dvd. My tv has no hdmi or dvi, just component tough its ready for 1080i resolutions. with the Marantz dvd i get 480i.....do you really think it would be a significant better picture if i use the Samsung HD850 upconversion through component?

I hope the answer is YES cuz i dont want to buy a new tv with hdmi connections!

By the way, whats better for high resolution? CRT, Plasma, LCD??

  • 3 weeks later...

There are NO good Upscaling DVD players for component, ONLY DVI/HDMI

get yourself a good 480p player and ride it out until you buy a TV for HD DVD's.

cause 480i and 480p are a big jump.

Ok i get the point, my question is.....even if theres no "good" upscaling dvd players over component, the image wont be better in my CRT 1080i tv?

Marantz is an excelent dvd player tough its only 480i. I hooked up an awfull dvd player ($28) which is 480p and there?s no comparisson! The Marantz looks muuuch better even being 480i.

Im trying to sell my tv and buy a new one with hdmi, but in the mean time if i can get a better picture with the upscale id buy it right now and not waiting untill i have a new tv. Ive seen on bestbuy there?re already HD DVD and Blu Ray dvd players....but those ill wait for the prices to low down! (HD DVD $499 - Blu Ray $999)

I guess the only way then to get hi-def component output for DVDs is to use a computer with a gfx card with component out.

That's the only way so far. We'll see how good/bad the quality is with the new HD DVD and Blu Ray.

I had tried the LG upconverting DVD player (LDA-531) and I don't think the price is worth it to use it with component. I see some resolution increase but not much. I would've kept the LDA-531 if the picture quality is better, but there is this annoying contrast (dynamic range) problem. It is as I am watching the TV through a thin layer of fog/smoke. Turning down brightness in TV helped a bit but does not eliminate it.

That's the only way so far. We'll see how good/bad the quality is with the new HD DVD and Blu Ray.

I had tried the LG upconverting DVD player (LDA-531) and I don't think the price is worth it to use it with component. I see some resolution increase but not much. I would've kept the LDA-531 if the picture quality is better, but there is this annoying contrast (dynamic range) problem. It is as I am watching the TV through a thin layer of fog/smoke. Turning down brightness in TV helped a bit but does not eliminate it.

This is what ive understood for what ive read. Analog and digital (component/hdmi) should have exactlly the same picture quality since they're HD capable signals. The industry in makeing all HD devices through digital because of HDCP. HDCP works only with digital signals, not analog.

Now....the reason ive found that there is no good upconverting dvd is simple. For example, samsung HD-931. It uses the Faroudja for digital upconversion...but when it comes to analog it uses a poor chip instead of faroudja.

I need a little help understanding something. Video DAC. 12bit/54Mhz This i dont understand. I think the mhz thing its the speed it converts digital to analog...not too important in picture quality right? What about the bit thing?? ive seen 8bit to 16bit. What is it about?

The only thing holding me back from the oppo is the DVI output. When they release their next model with a HDMI I will buy it.

there's no reason why that should hold you back. the dvi and hdmi signal is the same for video. the only difference is that HDMI carries audio as well...and if you have a nice setup, you're not playing audio through your TV anyway and chances are that your receiver doesn't support HDMI input anyway.

I was talkign about this with some fellow best buy associates from around the country today and one guy mentioned how, in the manual, it states it only does upconversion over component video for DVD-R. While this sounds a little bogus, it may be something to keep in mind.

by default, yes it only upconverts to 1080i through HDMI, however...there are codes online to turn off macrovision and hDCP so that you can get 1080i through component if your TV doesn't have HDMI input.

Also, the 531 was renamed to SDA-511 or something like that.

This is what ive understood for what ive read. Analog and digital (component/hdmi) should have exactlly the same picture quality since they're HD capable signals. The industry in makeing all HD devices through digital because of HDCP. HDCP works only with digital signals, not analog.

Now....the reason ive found that there is no good upconverting dvd is simple. For example, samsung HD-931. It uses the Faroudja for digital upconversion...but when it comes to analog it uses a poor chip instead of faroudja.

I need a little help understanding something. Video DAC. 12bit/54Mhz This i dont understand. I think the mhz thing its the speed it converts digital to analog...not too important in picture quality right? What about the bit thing?? ive seen 8bit to 16bit. What is it about?

The bit part is the accuracy of the conversion; the higher the bit number, the more accurate. However, higher bit generates more data.

It makes sense if it uses another (not Faroudja) chip that converts poorly for analog. The problem with contrast that I mentioned was not limited to HD res, it is on all the resolutions (480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i). Even a $69 Koss 5121-2 DVD (480p) shows better contrast, even though the LG has better resolution at 720 and 1080 (It had better be!). I think I made the correct decision in returning it. I'll wait until the chip gets better and the price to drop or use a PC with HD-DVD / Blu-Ray drive and component output. ;)

Here's the DVD player I mentioned. It may only be available in Canada. The version that I tested came with the new firmware and to hack it no firmware upgrade as was reported in videohelp.com was necessary. I was able to turn off Macrovision, HDCP, etc. right out of the box and it was already region free.

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetai...10061641&catid=

The bit part is the accuracy of the conversion; the higher the bit number, the more accurate. However, higher bit generates more data.

It makes sense if it uses another (not Faroudja) chip that converts poorly for analog. The problem with contrast that I mentioned was not limited to HD res, it is on all the resolutions (480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i). Even a $69 Koss 5121-2 DVD (480p) shows better contrast, even though the LG has better resolution at 720 and 1080 (It had better be!). I think I made the correct decision in returning it. I'll wait until the chip gets better and the price to drop or use a PC with HD-DVD / Blu-Ray drive and component output. ;)

Here's the DVD player I mentioned. It may only be available in Canada. The version that I tested came with the new firmware and to hack it no firmware upgrade as was reported in videohelp.com was necessary. I was able to turn off Macrovision, HDCP, etc. right out of the box and it was already region free.

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetai...10061641&catid=

So i guess LG is not a very good player right? Good to know so i dont buy it. Im very happy with my marantz. Id like to buy a new upconversion model, but they're too expensive! So, let me get this right...the mhz thing is the speed of converting digital to analog, acording to some reads, for progresive scan 54Mhz is enough...what about 108mhz or even 216mhz? Is it a waste of technology just for 480p? Now, the bit thing. For progresive scan, or any...the higher the bit the better the image quality?? Or not so important?

I want to be sure cuz ive seen some strange things. My marantz is 10 bit / 27Mhz (480i) and the quality is great. I hooked my parents sony dvd 12 bit/54mhz (480p) and i get better picture quality with the marantz. So, whats the deal here? How can i know which one's a good dvd player when i buy one?

If you want to go all out. I would go with the Pioneer Elite series. There really is no better player on the market.

Pioneer Elite Series DVD Players

Hey GRex, actually thats a very good player, but for the price i would rather buy this one

Sony Blu-ray

or even this one

Toshiba HD-DVD

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • I'm still on Windows 10 22H2 because I didn't want to deal with all the issues in Windows 11, so I waited almost a week before installing the latest Patch Tuesday update (KB5094127), I went ahead and did it, and it was a huge mistake—ever since then, my File Explorer has seen a performance drop of about 30% when transferring large files... Once again, Microsoft has outdone itself! This update cannot be uninstalled, either through the Control Panel (via Settings) or by accessing Advanced Startup Options. The only possible alternative would be to use system restore points, but I’d have to reinstall all app and driver updates (and there’s no guarantee it would work). Or there’s the “nuclear option” of a in-place repair without losing files or apps, but even then, all my customizations would be lost! Microsoft just can’t help but mess everything up! Way to go, Microsoft! But I still don’t want your c****y Windows 11!
    • Microsoft: Windows 11 could finally solve a major issue across AMD, Nvidia, and Intel GPUs by Sayan Sen While Microsoft has been trying to improve it, Windows 11 is definitely not flawless, as even today some issues are taking a year to publicly acknowledge. However, one area of trouble that may finally see much better results soon is graphics driver crashes. Work on graphics driver timeouts, also called Timeout and Detection Recovery (TDR), is not new as the latest WDDM 3.2 also has specific improvements regarding it. Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) version 3.2 is supported on Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2. However, with the upcoming version 26H2, TDR crash diagnosis could go to the next level as Microsoft is introducing a new DirectX 12 API feature called "DirectX Dump Files". Similar to how system memory dump files work when a system crashes or freezes or encounters any such major issue, DirectX Dump Files (DDF) will essentially record a snapshot of the GPU execution right at the moment a graphics-related crash or hang or freeze occurs, so that developers can better understand and diagnoze these TDR and timeout detection errors. The dump will be available as a .dxdmp file for analysis and it will be a comprehensive dump file generated with detailed insights about the hardware, drivers, Windows, as well as the affected application. This should be another welcome change in this department. Earlier at GDC 2026, when the technology was first debuted, Microsoft had shared more details regarding it. The company had explained how DDF is designed to gather data from every layer of the graphics stack into a single file, eliminating the need for developers to manually correlate logs from multiple tools. As mentioned above, the dump can contain a lot of useful details like GPU hardware state information such as register values, shader program counters, page fault virtual addresses, shader memory data, and command buffers. Alongside that, it also captures DirectX runtime and kernel information, including D3D objects, pipeline state objects, device error data, adapter details, and CPU call stacks. Microsoft says the feature has been built around two primary use cases: retail device removals and local device removals. The former allows developers to collect crash information from end users' systems in the field, while the latter helps QA teams and developers investigate issues on test machines. Developers will also be able to include up to 2 MB of custom application data through new D3D12 APIs, providing additional context for troubleshooting. In addition, Microsoft is introducing three dump collection modes ranging from zero-overhead capture, which has no runtime performance impact on supported hardware, to higher-detail modes that collect more vendor-specific debugging data. On compatible Tier 2 hardware, zero-overhead dumps will be enabled by default, meaning developers may begin receiving useful crash diagnostics without making any code changes. The table below explains the three tiers: Tier Description NO_OVERHEAD Enables crash capture with no runtime cost and is suitable for broad deployment MEDIUM_OVERHEAD Provides a balance, capturing additional diagnostic data with moderate impact HIGH_OVERHEAD Collects the most detailed GPU and driver state available, enabling deeper investigation at the cost of higher runtime overhead In terms of availability, the company expects broader release to be around the fall of 2026, which should be right around the time when Windows 11 version 26H2 lands. Right now, DirectX Dump Files are available as a preview and currently, only AMD has the compatible AgilitySDK Developer Preview driver version 26.10.07.02. You can find the official announcement post here on Microsoft's website.
    • And with SO much better perf than the laggy mess that is Files.
    • BrowserOS 0.46.0 by Razvan Serea BrowserOS is a free, open-source Chromium-based browser that runs AI agents natively, offering a smarter, more productive browsing experience. It supports Chrome extensions and integrates AI agents to automate tasks, fill forms, and streamline workflows. Your data stays on your computer: you can use your own API keys or run local models via Ollama, making it a privacy-first alternative to tools like Perplexity, Comet, or Dia. With built-in productivity tools and app integrations, BrowserOS boosts efficiency while keeping control firmly in your hands. Being Chromium-based, BrowserOS lets you effortlessly import your bookmarks, passwords, and Chrome extensions in just a few clicks. BrowserOS works with OpenAI GPT models, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, and local AI models via Ollama or LMStudio. You can use your own API keys and effortlessly switch between providers. BrowserOS Agent Your AI productivity assistant that organizes and manages your browsing effortlessly Quickly list, group, or close tabs Save and resume browsing sessions Search your history and organize bookmarks Switch instantly to the tab you need BrowserOS Navigator – Automate web tasks with ease Navigate websites and search automatically Interact with pages without manual effort Handle repetitive tasks in seconds What makes BrowserOS special Feels like home - same familiar interface as Google Chrome, works with all your extensions AI agents that run on YOUR browser, not in the cloud Privacy first - bring your own keys or use local models with Ollama. Your browsing history stays on your computer Open source and community driven - see exactly what's happening under the hood MCP store to one-click install popular MCPs and use them directly in the browser bar (coming soon) Built-in AI ad blocker that works across more scenarios! BrowserOS 0.46.0 changelog: Run Claude Code & Codex right in your browser — We've extended the agent harness to bring full coding agents into BrowserOS. Claude Code and Codex now come bundled and plug straight into the assistant, so you can drive your browser with the agent — and the subscription — you already use. A brand new experience — A redesigned new tab, a calmer composer, and a rebuilt command center for switching between agents. The whole assistant is cleaner, faster to reach, and easier to live in. New MCP tools — We rebuilt the browser tool surface from the ground up — a tighter, more reliable set of tools for agents to drive the browser. Plus one-click install of BrowserOS as an MCP server into the agents you already run, with automatic URL sync. Chromium 148 — Updated to the latest Chromium base with all recent upstream fixes and security patches. Streamlined — We've pulled back a few features that weren't getting much use — Skills, Soul, and Memory — so we can focus and ship better versions of them soon. Download: BrowserOS 0.46.0 | 181.0 MB (Open Source) Download: BrowserOS for macOS | 485.0 MB Links: BrowserOS Homepage | Github | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
  • Recent Achievements

    • First Post
      BizSAR earned a badge
      First Post
    • Week One Done
      Jordan Smith earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Reacting Well
      BizSAR earned a badge
      Reacting Well
    • First Post
      AndreaB earned a badge
      First Post
    • Week One Done
      Huge Trailer earned a badge
      Week One Done
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      596
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      188
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      80
    4. 4
      Michael Scrip
      76
    5. 5
      Steven P.
      67
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!